CIA Director William Burns said the US is “confident” that China is considering providing deadly weapons to Russia in its greater than year-long war with Ukraine.
“We’re confident that Chinese leaders are considering providing lethal equipment,” Burns saidCBS News “Challenge the Nation” in an excerpt from an interview that will air on Sunday.
However the intelligence chief stressed that up to now there is no such thing as a indication that Beijing has began sending weapons to Russia.
“We also don’t see that a final decision has been made yet, and we do not see evidence of actual deliveries of lethal equipment,” Burns said.
“And that is why I believe Secretary Blinken and the president thought it necessary to make it clear what the implications of this is able to be,” he continued.
![Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at an international conference, September 16, 2022.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/NYPICHPDPICT000007056744-1.jpg?w=1024)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned the potential for China providing military aid in an interview last week after he sat down along with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Summit.
“What we have now seen lately is, after all, political and rhetorical support, and even non-lethal support. But we’re very concerned that China is considering giving lethal support to Russia in its aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken said.
“And I explained that it could even have serious consequences for our relationship, which President Biden spoke directly to President Xi on several occasions,” he said.
Biden, who made a surprise visit to Ukraine last Monday, said there was “no evidence” that China was ready to send weapons to Russia, but said China would face repercussions from the worldwide community if it did.
“I had a protracted conversation with Xi about this in the summertime. I said, “Look, it is not a threat. It’s just a press release. When actually the Europeans saw what was occurring and the Americans saw what was occurring in Russia – in Europe, guess what? 600 corporations withdrew. They left. They didn’t want to be known. I said, “You told me that China’s future is dependent upon investment from the Western world.” And that matters. I said, “I’ll just control it.” he told reporters on the White House last Friday, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping
![Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that China's delivery of deadly weapons to Russia would trigger World War III.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/NYPICHPDPICT000007216438.jpg?w=1024)
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who hosted Biden in Kiev for the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, expressed much more dire prospects if China intervened.
“Because if China allies itself with Russia, there will be a world war, and I believe China is aware of that,” he said last week.
Burns, when asked concerning the administration’s threat of leaking intelligence showing that China is considering military aid to Russia, said Xi’s decision to proceed with the supplies “could be a really dangerous and unwise bet.”
“I believe the Chinese are also trying to consider the ramifications of our expressed concerns about providing lethal equipment,” Burns said.
“Where is the purpose where, , they might face some pretty serious consequences. And that is what we tried to explain,” he said.
The highest U.S. spy also said Xi was aware of the unity the West showed in the course of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“There is no such thing as a foreign leader who has watched Vladimir Putin’s experience in Ukraine more closely, the evolution of the war, than Xi Jinping,” he said. “I believe in some ways he was restless and sober after what he saw.”